ACT IV.
'Old friends are best.'
[Scene as before. Time, the early dawn. Minos slumbering uneasily, having fallen forwards upon the table, his forehead resting on the inkstand. To him enter Euclid on tip-toe, followed by the phantasms of Archimedes, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Plato, &c., who have come to see fair play.]
§ 1. Treatment of Pairs of Lines.
Euc. Are all gone?
Min. 'Be cheerful, sir:
Our revels now are ended: these our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air!'
Euc. Good. Let us to business. And first, have you found any method of treating Parallels to supersede mine?
Min. No! A thousand times, no! The infinitesimal method, so gracefully employed by M. Legendre, is unsuited to beginners: the method by transversals, and the method by revolving Lines, have not yet been offered in a logical form: the 'equidistant' method is too cumbrous:
P
